Meaning
In informal British English, a fiver means five pounds, especially a banknote worth five pounds, and it can also refer casually to a price or amount of £5.
How it is used
Cambridge Dictionary labels the British sense of fiver as UK informal and defines it as five pounds or a note worth five pounds. Collins independently records a fiver as a five-pound note in British informal usage. In conversation, the word can therefore describe either the note itself or, more broadly, an amount or price of five pounds.
Examples
- “It only cost a fiver.”
- “Have you got a fiver for the collection?”
- “Can you change a tenner for two fivers?”
Pronunciation
/ˈfaɪ.və/ · FY-vuh
Tone and register
Informal, familiar, and neutral in everyday British conversation. Five pounds or a five-pound note is clearer in formal banking, accounting, exchange, or legal contexts.
Visitor guidance
Visitors can interpret for a fiver or costs a fiver as £5 in a British context. Be aware that fiver can also mean a five-dollar bill in American usage, so country and currency context matter. This entry explains vocabulary only; current banknote designs, legal-tender status, cash acceptance, exchange rates, and payment policies should be checked with authoritative current sources.
Cultural context
Fiver is practical British money vocabulary because it compresses a common denomination into a natural conversational noun. It often appears when discussing small purchases, cash, contributions, prices, and splitting money, and pairs naturally with tenner. The term is British-wide rather than specifically London slang.
Places represented
Open the reviewed place guide for each regional sense carried by this canonical entry.